Northeast Gardening: Garden Projects #7, 0 by RosemaryK

RosemaryK wrote:
I could use some suggestions about the area around the ac. Once upon a time it was shady, but now that tree is gone and the new saplings twenty feet away (magnolia virginiana and a fragrant snowbell) haven't taken over yet. It's very sheltered with a giant yew behind the fence also, but there's overhead sun at noon near the house and this side of the house faces north. I've thought of giant hosta, maybe trying a needle palm nearby, and new hydrangeas are in here. There's also a new tree peony by the fence in the dappled shade.

There is a gate just to the right of this pic, and that is where the camellia arch is planned. It could take ten years for the plants to get tall enough to intertwine overhead, so the project is a test to see if they'll even grow there. By my reckoning the fence will protect a lot, but the camellias will get dappled morning sun for a few hours. My sources conflict on whether morning sun will burst a camellia's tender stems in winter. If there isn't any sun, then there won't be blossoms.

The forsythia has been tamed a great deal already and I popped a wolf eyes dogwood in the mulched area. The boulder was dug up from the foundation this August. The ground was a veritable junk dump, so more digging may reveal anything.